My Story

Jul 03, 2016

July 4 2016 12:57 am

Surgery is Tuesday July 5th with Dr. July. I am beyond excited for this new journey.  August 2nd 2014 I woke up at 3am with what I thought was a migraine. I had never experienced migraines or headaches for that matter.  Being a nurse and that fact that I am stubborn...I did not go to the ER for another four days. It was the fourth day that I woke up and could not unclasp my bra behind my back because my left arm was numb. Still determined...I finally got it off and took a shower because I had a massage appointment set, in hopes to take care of my tense muscles. I arrived early to the appointment and waitied in my car. I spoke with my mom who was still concerned about the headache. She encouraged me to call my Dr. So I did...the nurse informed me I needed to go into the ER to know for sure if something more serious was going on. Well, I still didn't listen because it was just a headache, right?  I went home to take a nap and woke up, the headache was worse. I was asked to stop by the jail because my (now ex) husband had just been transferred to the prison and I had to pick up a bunch of his belongings. As I was walking up the stairs of the jail, my eyes became blurry and I fell up the stairs but I still didn't see the need to go get it checked out. 

Considering I was in so much pain, I had not been cooking and I brought myself and my two children to Arby's for dinner. It had been an emotional week, knowing the divorce was coming. Everything seemed as if life was crashing down. I was in the deepest depression of my life. Being a single mother with two kids and I just wanted to die. I did not care if the illness took my life. We were sitting in Arby's and I was talking to my mom over the phone and she begged for me to go in. To shut her up, I decided to go to the ER to prove to her it was just a pinched nerve and tense muscles. 

I dropped my babies off at my Aunt's house by the hospital. Then drove and parked my car at the ER. I checked in, was treated like I had nothing wrong by the nurse and she was clearly annoyed I was there because it was busy. I had a CT scan and they had found blood clots in my brain and needed an MRI so they could determine where they were located...The diagnosis was Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis and the doctor confirmed there were "several" clots present.  I was admitted for 4 days and that's when my major health problems originated. The following year, I developed another two blood clots in my left arm.  I couldn't lose weight for the life of me. I had been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism before the first set of clots and my weight was fluctuating constantly.... Some days gaining up to 9lbs!  I ended up giving up on my diet and decided at that point I was going to eat what I wanted because I was going to die anyways...33 years old with an 8 & 3 year old.  

Naturally, my family was concerned and had a slight interventin and encouraged bariatric surgery. I had been thinking of the lapband since I was 24 years old...so I decided to go for it February 2016 but later switched to the RNY procedure. I was placed on lasix (diuretic) in February and started to finally take off weight with the lasix and cutting sugar!  I was thrilled!  I ended up losing roughly 40 lbs before surgery. Here I sit at 246.9 lbs early Monday morning (1:53) Happy 4th of July!! Surgery is July 5th.  Arrival time- 5:30 am!!!

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